Takato and troop decided to meet the others at the cave. Jeri hugged Rika as soon as she entered. Takato fist-bumped Henry and Ryo and gave Kenta a light thump on his back. Mako hugged his sister while Impmon (he de-digivolved) smiled from beside him. Suzie also hugged her friend then leaned in to whisper into her ear. "What was it like being on the same team as my brother?" Ai blushed at the comment. Her crush on Henry was only known to Suzie and Mako.

"I-it was amazing to watch him at work. He was so focused on it that he was almost lost to the world," said Ai, dreamily. Suzie and Mako sweat dropped. 'Basically nothing happened between these two huh?' they thought.

"Guys, aren't we missing someone?" asked Henry.

"Yeah! Where are Kazu and Guardromon?" asked Kenta, unable to spot his best friend. The tamers looked at each other uncomfortably. "Actually..." started Takato. He told them how they lost sight of the said two and Beelzemon's response. When he was done, Kenta yelled, "You guys should have gone looking for him! What if something happens to him?"

"But Kazu's not weak... He has Guardromon and Culumon with him..." said Jeri softly.

"That doesn't mean you just leave him behind!" cried Kenta.

"We wanted to look for him but..."started Takato but Rika cut him off.

"I agree with Kenta. Kazu's not strong. Guardromon can't even digivolve! If they are attacked by even champion, they'll be in trouble." At this Ryo's eyes widened a bit. "Knowing him, he probably got lost while you guys were heading here."

"We'll have to look for him. Where was the last place you saw him?" asked Henry.

"Um... the place where we fought the Kokatorimon."

"Then a few of us should go look for him. So, who wants to go?" asked Rika.

"Takato and I will go," said Ryo, standing up. "The rest of you can exchange information. "

"Alright then, we'll leave it to you guys," stated Kenta.

"Stay safe Takato. You, too Ryo," said Jeri.

With that the two tamers left the cave with their digimon. Once they were quite a distance away from the cave, Ryo stopped Takato.

"What's wrong, Ryo?" asked the brown-haired tamer.

"Takato, you really think Kazu got lost?" The older tamer's question caught Takato off guard.

"I guess it is a possibility," he answered hesitantly. "Why do you ask?"

"No, I just feel that might not be the case. Like Beelzemon told you, perhaps he really did need to sometime for himself. If so, I'm sure he's bound to catch up with us," said Ryo.

"So you're saying we shouldn't search for him?"

"No, I'm not saying that. Just that we shouldn't panic over him. He is definitely capable of taking care of himself. Not to mention Culumon's with him. There's a high possibility that Guardromon will be able to digivolve as well."

"You seem really confident in Kazu. Is it because you've been mentoring him?" asked Takato.

Ryo smiled. "Well there's that and also something that someone said that's been bugging me." Takato raised an eyebrow. When Ryo didn't continue after a while, he blinked in bewilderment. In the background, Guilmon and Cyberdramon stood watching the tamers.

"Hey, Cyberdramon. What does Ryo mean?" asked the little red dinosaur. Cyberdramon merely grunted. "Guess you won't tell me anything. I wish Terriermon was here..."

Ryo shook his head. "It's nothing," he said before walking ahead. Knowing there was no point in pushing him further, Takato continued guiding him to the valley. The two boys wandered in search of any traces of their friend. Suddenly Guilmon stopped and sniffed the air. "Takato, I can smell something burning."

"What?" asked Takato, looking around.

"Takato, over there! There's smoke coming from there!" stated Ryo as he pointed in the direction of a cloud of dark rings.

"Maybe that's Kazu camping?" guessed Takato.

"Let's go check it out," stated Ryo.

"It'll get dark soon. Let's camp here for the evening, Guardromon," said Kazu.

"Aye, aye captain!" replied his partner. Together they went about setting up a campfire. Culumon helped gather little twigs, Guardomon helped lit the fire while Kazu set up his sleeping bags and pulled out a few snacks he had with him. He opened a packet of chips and offered them to the two digimon.

"I wonder if this is how Ryo camped when he stayed in the digital world for that one year. It's kinda thrilling than scary. Though I think the me of back then would have definitely been too scared to do something like this, haha..."

"I guess. But Kazu, you've grown up since then!" stated Guardromon.

"Of course! I can't always be that naive kid ya know!" The two laughed.

"Even so, I'm not strong enough to help you digivolve, after all these years..."

"Kazu..."

"Takato and the others can go mega with their partners easily whereas I

can't help you Matrix digivolve..."

"Kazu, don't worry! I'm sure you can help Guardromon digivolve to ultimate," cheered Culumon.

"When, Culumon? When?" asked Kazu.

"That..."

"Kazu, I will digivolve when the time is right. Don't compare yourself to others. You have your own pace to do things. If you're impatient then things won't work out," said Guardromon.

"I know... It's just... I've had enough of being useless..."

"You're not useless, Kazu!" reprimanded Culumon. Even when angered he looked cute. "You have many good sides to you!"

"Like?"

"Like...like that time you and Kenta helped save those cops from ADR-07! Or when you helped fend off the Parasimon! You aren't useless at all Kazu!"

Kazu smiled a bitter smile. "Thanks, Culumon. I know my power is nowhere near the others but I won't give up! Let's become stronger so we don't hold back the others!"

"Yeah!" cheered Guardromon. Together, they were all about to sleep when they heard a rustle from behind them.

"Who's there?" called out Kazu. From among the bushes emerged...

A/N: Sorry for not posting in a long time! Been caught in a lot of things. Will try and upload as often as I can!